This section merely provides background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Vehicles, including but not limited to, recreational vehicles (“RVs”, in the United States and “Caravans” or “Mobile Homes” in Europe), tractor trailers, airplanes, boats, trains and the like, often incorporate refrigerators for the comfort and convenience of the occupants. For example, recreational vehicle campers often find it convenient, or even necessary, to refrigerate food, drinks, and medicine during their journey and while at their campsites. While many prepared camp sites in parks and commercial campgrounds provide for electrical outlets, many do not. Moreover, many highly desirable camping locations exist outside of these prepared sites. Thus, a popular solution has been to equip the recreational vehicle with an absorption refrigerator.
Absorption refrigerators typically employ heat to vaporize a coolant-water mixture (typically ammonia-water) thereby driving the refrigeration loop in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. Popular heat sources include electrical heaters and fuel burners. The fuel burners typically employ propane which is readily available at camping supply stores, barbeque supply stores, and numerous gas stations. Though, any liquid or gaseous fuel would work well and be controllable through simple, automated control systems.
Some absorption refrigerators incorporate temperature regulation control. Typically, a temperature within the refrigerator is monitored. The cooling system can be activated when a cut-in temperature is reached and de-activated when a cut-out temperature is reached. Some refrigerators may also incorporate passive defrost regulation that turns off the cooling system when an internal temperature reaches a predetermined low temperature threshold and turns on the cooling system when an internal temperature reaches a predetermined high temperature threshold. In some instances, such temperature and passive defrost regulation can inadvertently cause undesirable high internal temperatures in the refrigerator.